Black Bat Design Sketch by Alex Ross

Dynamite's Masks mini-series came out around the time that I was transitioning from printed comics to the digital format due to an inability to get to the local comic store as regularly as I used to.  For that reason, I have ended up with the first few issues of Masks in "floppy" format and the rest on my Comixology.

Wanting to have the entire story fully collected, I ordered the trade paperback from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and received it today.  I was looking forward to seeing the bonus content and was not disappointed.

First and foremost, I was hoping for a cover gallery.  Not only was one included, but there was a collection of hand-drawn Jae Lee and Alex Ross (hand-painted, in his case) cover reproductions as well. The book also includes a script for the first issue with Alex Ross sketches and a few pages of character designs. The Black Bat is the first design displayed.  Here it is below.

Pretty cool to see.

The next volume of Masks, written by Cullen Bunn, was first said to have a "late 2014" release date, but that doesn't seem to be the case after all since it is nowhere to be found in the December solicitations. Bunn has stated that he intends to have an "ambitious" cast for his mini series.  That would seem to suggest Black Bat and Miss Fury will be included, but it also raises a concern that they may get lost among a huge collection of characters.  I hope the January solicitations provide us with a promotional image or two to give us a hint of things to come.